What are we? In co-ops, members pool resources to bring about economic results that are unobtainable by one person alone. Most simply put, a cooperative is a business voluntarily owned by the people who use it, and operated for the benefit of its members. Most food co-ops are consumer cooperatives, meaning that most retail co-ops in the U.S. are owned by the people who shop at the stores. Members exercise their ownership by patronizing the store and voting in elections. The members elect a board of directors to hire, guide and evaluate the general manager who runs day-to-day operations of the retail store. Consumer cooperatives are very different from privately owned “discount clubs,” which charge annual fees in exchange for a discount on purchases. The “club” is not owned or governed by the “owners” and the profits of the business go to the investors, not to owners. In a cooperative, the owners own the business and the profits belong to the community of owners.We are a mish-mash of both. MDCC will charge an annual fee for a membership in exchange for discounts on purchases like a discount club, however MDCC also gives rights to it’s good-standing members to participate in elections of the board, as well as share of dividends at the end of fiscal year.The overall goal of the cooperative movement is to create organizations that serve the needs of the people who use them. Cooperative businesses provide goods and services in a way that keeps community resources in the community.